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Nothing much to I have started at my new school and have done 2 stints of 3 hrs 20 mins each time. The little office that I work in is also the head teacher's office. Her admin day is Tuesday, but she was busy elsewhere for most of that afternoon. Unfortunately there is no internet access in the office, although a new pc workstation was installed the morning before I arrived. Hopefully the internet access will not be long, the town hall needs to do a bit of cabling work. The school staff, teachers and ALAE staff all seem pleased to have me there, but as the classrooms are on the first floor and I am on the ground floor next to the school's main doors I am rather out of the way of them and the life of the school, unless the phone rings and I have to go and find the relevant person. It is going to take me a while to get settled in.
Last Friday one of Madame's friends friends came to help me install two perspex porches over the two front doors. All was going well, and my side of the porch support for the "marquise" was safely screwed into the wall. Unfortunately things were not going well on the other side of the door, as two of the screws broke off in the wall as he tightened them.
We continued with the marquise over Madame's door, and that was installed without any problems. Of course Madame (who had pestered me for months to buy and install this object) immediately lost interest in the proceedings and had to go and lie down on her canapé. I offered to test the porch by getting her to stand under it whilst I poured a bucket of water out of an upper window onto it, but she declined. So the next morning I was at BricoDepot to try and buy or blagg replacement screws and raw plugs to restart the failed installation. I was passed from person to person and finally the 4th person indicated which bits and pieces I should buy.
I returned home, Madame phoned her pal, and the bloke returned. Fortunately all went well, but some of the screw covers have disappeared.
Do they stop Madame getting water into her flat when she opens the door when it is raining? I have no idea as it hasn't rained for about 2 weeks now and we have had to put up with temperatures in the 80s. At last summer has arrived!
Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from the college that controls my school admin post contract. The lady told me that my contract was now ready to sign and gave me the name of the schools that I will be working at until my contract runs out at the end of March 2012.
I am staying at my current school for 10 of my hours, and the remaining 10 hours in a school in a village which joins on to the outskirts of my town, about 12 - 15 minutes drive away depending on the traffic. I could walk there in about 50 minutes.
So on Monday afternoon I will be going to visit my new school and the directrice, staff, kids etc. This school was built in 1994, so it will make an interesting contrast to the old school buildings where I have spent my time so far.
I am still waiting for confirmation of my 20 or so hours teaching English in a nursing college. I am due to start my first session of the teaching year in about 2 week's time......
So that is the way my working life is shaping up at the moment. Someone has asked me if I will give some English tuition to a lad of 14, who has been doing English for 3 years, but who for some reason during the last year attended hardly any English lessons. I met him briefly.
"What's you name?" I asked. He thought about it for about 30 seconds, during which I repeated the question slowly several times. In the end I had to ask him his name in French.
I then tried "How old are you?" "I'm fine" he eventually replied. The 7 year olds in my school can answer these two questions without any problem. I think that he will need to put in an awful lot of work if he wants to reach the required standard for his year...... I am not sure if I will do it or not.
The fete was due to continue at 9pm with a procession with majorettes, old cars, marching bands etc but it had been raining almost all day. What to do? I put on my pac-a-mac, slung my camera round my neck and set off into town. Rigsby is not afraid of rain.
As I neared the centre of town I knew that something was wrong. There was traffic coming towards me. Usually the road is blocked off to allow the procession to take place.
It was raining quite heavily as I arrived at the Halle. I sat at a table and drank a couple of beers while some of the bands played under cover of the Halle's new roof.
Finally it was time for l'orchestre Mission to take the stage.
Yesterday there had been a little old lady dancing to the music with the whole floor to herself. She was back again. As the music began a shuffling figure complete with her shopping trolley and clutching a band publicity sheet. She was hot to trot once again.
Dancing with your shopping trolley can be tiring, luckily the wheels makes the transition turns quite smooth.
However she got tired of trundling it about and attempted to park it behind the security barrier, through a convenient gap, which was just not big enough for her to squeeze it through. The lead guitarist was watching her as she switched to plan B and started trying to lift the trolley over the barrier. He gave up playing and came to assist her.
She decided that her dance partner would be safer on the stage, so this is where it ended up.
Now unencumbered, she was able to shuffle about and wave her arms, she even shouted noises into the proffered microphone from time to time
Finally, just like a scene from Mama Mia she was hoisted up onto the stage to join in the band's final song.
So a very successful night for the dancing queen. Thankfully France is full of characters. (and I should know, I'm one!)
Meanwhile the rain was hammering down. The band stopped at 1.30am but the rain didn't so Rigsby paddled home in his new shoes.
Since January a lot has changed. I still have my 2 tenants. Madame has erected a huge pergola on her terrace and had purchased chairs and an extremely heavy table (mosaic tiles on top of a concrete table top). There are strips of cloth, weighted at each end that can be draped over the pergola to provide shade. Due to the weather this summer though, a month of constant rain, followed by a month of rain or temperatures between 90 – 100 degrees F, here new ensemble has hardly been used. She recently acquired a bicycle, which is now kept in the hall cupboard inside the main part of my building. She has not used it as she is too fatigue, and as she recently fell over and injured her legs, it is likely that the bike will stay blocking up my cupboard. I doubt if she will purchase a storage box to keep it on her cluttered terrace. The Portuguese man arrived back from his holiday early on Friday morning. He too seems to have acquired a bicycle which he keeps in his studio on the first floor.
The French family that I used to go on outing with, or to their house for BBQ’s and for crepes etc have put their house on the market and moved to a small town 3.5 hours drive from here. After 2 years of unemployment Monsieur a short fixed term contract, which he hopes might be made permanent, so the family of 5 has all been uprooted to go and live in a small apartment with no garden.
I may have mentioned that I don’t intend to join the choir this year. I feel in need of a rest from it. I had not been enjoying it and as my move to France has been a life change, why do things that you are not enjoying if you can avoid it.
This past choral year was a nightmare as far as I was concerned. I cannot write too much here about the many reasons I have as there is always a chance that my blog will be stumbled upon, and there are French people who speak a fair bit of English. The last straw for me was when the choir’s public performances were announced about 5 weeks before the first concert. By that time I had already found other things to do on those dates. I must state that the choir members are lovely, friendly people and I will miss their company.
Now I have my guitar, choir time may be replaced by guitar lessons if my newly arrived CDrom course doesn’t move me along towards guitar god status.
On Friday night at 22:10 I set off walking into town to claim my usual spot to watch the firework display from. The pavements on both sides of the roads had cars parked on them, leaving only the road to walk on. The French tend to park anywhere that there is, or isn't a space.
The display began a few minutes late, which is good for this part of the world, where usually at least a quarter of an hour Ariege lag is added.
It was a perfect evening and the thunder storm rumbling in the distance held off until the early hours of the morning.
We only have a population of 10,000 but no expense seems to be spared for the annual fete fireworks.
The display was 17 minutes long and it was made up of 14 or so different tableaux. The usual section of fire dripping down the castle walls was not included this year, but the display was as spectacular as ever, with hearts, arrows going through hearts, I am sure that I saw the letter J inside a heart or a circle. All very clever and greatly appreciated by the crowds, lots of "putain"s of admiration.
Here is a video of the finale.
After the display I wandered up to see the fun fair which has taken over all the parking areas in the centre of town. The crowd was too dense to make any progress, so I crossed the main road, weaving between the gridlocked cars, and went to watch the "orchestre" which had wisely been set up under the roofed Halle au Grains. As usual, the musicians and the various singers were very good.
Enough blogging for today. I must get my guitar out and play, or rather, practice. My finger tips are still burning and I am finding out that it is not going to be as easy to learn as I had hoped. Perhaps if I had a music stand....
On Thursday morning I went along to my local College for my reunion. We sat at desks while a man, new in post, introduced himself and then commenced on a history of les handicapes in France and their integration into the national education system, which began in earnest in the 1970's. Then there was a section on what was and what was not the remit of someone assisting a enfant handicapes in the classroom. Fortunately the man spoke clearly so I could understand most of what was said. He was followed by a young lady who was something to do with the Psychologues who spoke very quietly and although I was in the front row, the constant chatting of the two women behind me made following what she said almost impossible.
The meeting finally drew to a close. Did anyone have any questions?
A lady asked, where am I supposed to go now? I do not know what schools I am working in. Lists were consulted. You are working with x at y school, but I don't know yet where else you will be working.
This opened the floodgates. Of the 60 or so staff in the room 70 to 80 % did not know where they were supposed to work. The panelists looked embarrassed and it was suggested that a queue be formed so that the admin staff could consult their lists. The majority of them, me included left the room none the wiser. So I just went to the one school tthat I did know. I am still an admin assistant, not an assistant to one or more enfants handicapes.
When I asked when I might find out where else I was working, the lady smiled and shrugged. It was not for her to say, it was the responsibility of M l'inspecteur....
The following day all the teachers and then the head teachers had an audience with M l'inspecteur.
My head teacher had M L'I on one side and the lady to whom I had posed my question the previous day.
"It is M L'I's" decision she said, "It's not anything to do with me" he said....
Personally I think that there might be a slight delay before I find out where my second school is.
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